Here is a story on Cullen Thompson and his visit this weekend...
pittsburgh.rivals.com
It was a 10/10 for Cullen Thompson.
Thompson — a 6-foot-4, 215-pound three-star edge rusher from Grand Oaks in Spring, Tx. — made his first visit to Pittsburgh for a spring practice last week and left with a great impression of Pitt football.
“It was pretty good,” Thompson told Pitt Sports News. "I rate it like a 10 out of 10. The facilities were really nice. The coaches really broke down everything whenever we went into our individual position groups for meetings and stuff like that in the morning, and it was it was a pretty good experience. I loved it.”
Thompson had seen pictures of the facility, but since he’d never been, he was judging everything of what he’d seen online. He was blown away — by everything — that he saw in person.
-
natl
-
st
-
pos
Cullen
Thompson
5.6
RATING
6'4"|215 lbs|DE
Grand Oaks
Spring, TX
Class of 2026
undecided
Thompson holds offers from Arkansas State, Army, Baylor, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Pitt, San Diego State, Tennessee State, Texas State, UNLV, UTEP and UTSA, and the Panthers jumped into the mix in January.
It was defensive coordinator Randy Bates who offered, and not long after, Bates made it down to visit him at his home — which meant a lot.
Thompson checked in with Bates and new assistant Anthony Johnson and recruiting operations coordinator Justice Rawlins, but he also spent time with defensive line coach Tim Daoust. And that was notable because while the pair hadn’t spent any time together previously, they hit it off like old friends.
“He likes how I bend,” Thompson said. “He likes my speed off the edge, and so the thing is I'm I'm not as heavy as some of these other edges and D-linemen, but he said that we they can build the muscle and the weight, but he just really likes my athleticism and stuff like that.”
Thompson is long and lean, with a frame that is capable of adding plenty of mass, so there isn’t an issue there. And there very likely isn’t an issue in a defensive fit either. He talked to Nate Temple after Thursday’s practice and liked what he heard about the fit in the system.
“He was talking about how they’re called defensive ends, but since the new coaching, they're really more like an edge-type outside linebacker guy now. So, now they're letting them be two points, and they're letting them they're letting them come off the edge more or not just have to hold gaps. So, I think I could really fit in that because I think that's how that's how I play it. I come off the edge a lot.”
Thompson is being pursued heavily at this point by the likes of Baylor, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Pitt and UNLV, but the trip to Pittsburgh opened his eyes.
“I thought it was going to be like a boring college town and stuff like that,” Thompson said. “But whenever I finally got there, it changed my view on everything and I really like the campus and I like the coaches and I like everything about it.
There’s no timeline when it comes to a commitment, and there’s a likely official visit to Pitt that hasn’t quite been finalized yet, but Pitt is in the mix.
Thompson would like to earn early playing time, but if he feels like he can go to a school where he can sit during his first season, develop and enter the mix as a sophomore, he’s just fine with that, too. It’s about development — and comfortability.
“It has to be the place that on my worst day, I feel like I'm at home, and I feel like I'm at peace,” Thompson said. “Like, it's my worst day, I'm having my worst day, but I can go to school and I can feel I can feel fine. That's how I want my school experience to feel.”
3-Star EDGE Cullen Thompson Enjoyed Pitt Visit
The Pitt Panthers are firmly in the mix for 2026 three-star edge rusher Cullen Thompson from Spring, Texas.
It was a 10/10 for Cullen Thompson.
Thompson — a 6-foot-4, 215-pound three-star edge rusher from Grand Oaks in Spring, Tx. — made his first visit to Pittsburgh for a spring practice last week and left with a great impression of Pitt football.
“It was pretty good,” Thompson told Pitt Sports News. "I rate it like a 10 out of 10. The facilities were really nice. The coaches really broke down everything whenever we went into our individual position groups for meetings and stuff like that in the morning, and it was it was a pretty good experience. I loved it.”
Thompson had seen pictures of the facility, but since he’d never been, he was judging everything of what he’d seen online. He was blown away — by everything — that he saw in person.
-
natl
-
st
-
pos
Cullen
Thompson
5.6
RATING
6'4"|215 lbs|DE
Grand Oaks
Spring, TX
Class of 2026
undecided
Thompson holds offers from Arkansas State, Army, Baylor, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Pitt, San Diego State, Tennessee State, Texas State, UNLV, UTEP and UTSA, and the Panthers jumped into the mix in January.
It was defensive coordinator Randy Bates who offered, and not long after, Bates made it down to visit him at his home — which meant a lot.
Thompson checked in with Bates and new assistant Anthony Johnson and recruiting operations coordinator Justice Rawlins, but he also spent time with defensive line coach Tim Daoust. And that was notable because while the pair hadn’t spent any time together previously, they hit it off like old friends.
“He likes how I bend,” Thompson said. “He likes my speed off the edge, and so the thing is I'm I'm not as heavy as some of these other edges and D-linemen, but he said that we they can build the muscle and the weight, but he just really likes my athleticism and stuff like that.”
Thompson is long and lean, with a frame that is capable of adding plenty of mass, so there isn’t an issue there. And there very likely isn’t an issue in a defensive fit either. He talked to Nate Temple after Thursday’s practice and liked what he heard about the fit in the system.
“He was talking about how they’re called defensive ends, but since the new coaching, they're really more like an edge-type outside linebacker guy now. So, now they're letting them be two points, and they're letting them they're letting them come off the edge more or not just have to hold gaps. So, I think I could really fit in that because I think that's how that's how I play it. I come off the edge a lot.”
Thompson is being pursued heavily at this point by the likes of Baylor, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Pitt and UNLV, but the trip to Pittsburgh opened his eyes.
“I thought it was going to be like a boring college town and stuff like that,” Thompson said. “But whenever I finally got there, it changed my view on everything and I really like the campus and I like the coaches and I like everything about it.
There’s no timeline when it comes to a commitment, and there’s a likely official visit to Pitt that hasn’t quite been finalized yet, but Pitt is in the mix.
Thompson would like to earn early playing time, but if he feels like he can go to a school where he can sit during his first season, develop and enter the mix as a sophomore, he’s just fine with that, too. It’s about development — and comfortability.
“It has to be the place that on my worst day, I feel like I'm at home, and I feel like I'm at peace,” Thompson said. “Like, it's my worst day, I'm having my worst day, but I can go to school and I can feel I can feel fine. That's how I want my school experience to feel.”
